Motorist Eludes Police

Police Wednesday night were looking for a man who, they said, drove off an I-84 exit ramp in downtown Hartford, under a chain-link fence and into the Governor's Foot Guard building.

The man did not seem to be seriously injured, police said. He rejected firefighters' offer of help when spotted at nearby Union Station before he fled, police Sgt. Francis Perrone said.

The Lincoln Town Car the man was driving had a crushed front end and was missing part of its bumper and grill.

``If you look at [the scene], you can't see how it could happen,'' Perrone said of the crash. The exit ramp is fairly straight, he said. City police were assisting state police with the investigation.

The crash occurred about 7:45 p.m., when the car veered off the High Street exit (Exit 49) of I-84 east, knocked over a sign, went under the fence and smashed into the brownstone and brick building at 159 High St., Perrone said. The car's path was marked by weed debris on the pavement and, on the building, chalky white marks with vegetation embedded in them.

With the car horn blaring and its air bag deployed, the man kept driving. He turned right onto High Street, right onto Church Street and right onto Hoadley Place next to Union Station, where he ditched the car under a highway overpass, police said.

Minutes later, he was spotted by people in Union Station, but was gone when police arrived.

The man was described as about 6 feet tall and wearing denim shorts with boxer shorts hanging out of them, police Sgt. Robert Cronin said.